In local dance company El Sueño’s most recent poster, “Mestizo: Breaking the Caste,” the organization revives the word “mestizo,” which has been used pejoratively to describe someone of “mixed race” or descent. European and indigenous.
When asked about the name of the event, Alicia Mullikin, dance artist, educator and founder of El Sueño, said: “If we fight this together, as a community, head-on, it may not exert this force on us. . . . There’s another story [about who we are], which is the beauty, the resilience, the hard work, the culture and wisdom passed down from generation to generation, and a lot of that comes from Indigenous peoples.
Through the lens of Mexican-American stories, dance, music and ceremonies, the artists involved in “Mestizo: Breaking the Caste” celebrated their ongoing connection to their Indigenous heritage that has been stripped away by colonization, cultural erasure and other bureaucracies. genocide.
With The Dream, Mullikin has traditionally created paintings that promote cultural recovery and education. In 2022, she invited netpaintings members to fold paper flowers and install them in the company’s logo, which is a fashionable interpretation of the Virgin Mary, to honor their ancestors and those who were lost and enjoyed at the University of Washington’s Henry Art Gallery.
Other events have included workshops, a film screening, discussions and dance classes.
“Mestizo: Breaking the Caste” took place over two days at Mini Mart City Park, a former gas station turned cultural center that uses sanitation technology to clean the ground beneath the site after years of contamination, such a fitting setting.
When I first entered the space, my nostrils filled with the smell of hot chocolate and herbs as I admired the art covering the walls by Mexican-American artists Maribel Galván and Mauro Murillo. In the center of the room, a network altar created through Métis. artists who showed their ancestral connections with the earth, the sky and the 4 elements.
Before we were invited to the first presentation, a welcoming rite performed by Maria Munoz, a first-generation Mexican-American spiritual consultant and power healer. It was a short, enchanting ritual with chants that reverberated off the wooden walls and filled the small, intimate space.
On my way out, I heard drums and a pan flute playing at the Tlalókan cultural organization, indicating that the exhibition had begun.
The first piece through Mia Berber, an indigenous Afro-Latina choreographer and dancer from Mexico and El Salvador founded in Los Angeles. Her solo dance piece was narrated through hip-hop dance moves and expressed her pain for someone enjoyed as well as acceptance of her. and peace in the face of that loss.
Along with performers from Tlalókan, next, Marco Piceno began a traditional Aztec dance that followed the story of a battle between a jaguar and an eagle.
After the show, Piceno said that “the jaguar represents the earth, our physical body and everything that binds us to this world, while the eagle represents our spirit. It is a war between the brain and the physical body.
Towards the end of this tough display, the eagle fell but was joined by other dancers, who began another display to demonstrate that through classical indigenous medicine, they can save the power and wisdom of the brain, as the eagle rises again.
“We are the channel that brings the power from earth to heaven,” Piceno passionately added as he explained the history of this dance.
The final screening was choreographed by filmmaker and dancer Devin Muñoz and featured Muñoz alongside dancers Emily Vázquez, Nikki Cardona and Tessa Bañales. Speaking about her delight in an interview with El Sueño’s social media team, Muñoz commented that her trendy dance piece explores “where [her] culture connects, where it’s disconnected, where there’s room to breathe. “
At the end of the evening, the audience was invited to participate in the final rite to give thanks for the four cardinal instructions and the four elements of music and community.
Although I am not Mexican-American, I was moved by the invitation to participate in this intimate ritual and rich culture, when the drums began to beat and everyone opened their palms toward the sky and followed. It made me think about our connection. to the land, to our ancestors, and to how much of my own history as a first-generation Chilean-American was intertwined with the history of colonization and the elimination of indigenous practices.
With “Mestizo: Breaking the Caste,” El Sueño wove the traditional with the contemporary to create an experience unlike any I have experienced within the performance art space in Seattle. I find myself still thinking about these performances weeks later, and I am reminded of what Mullikin said to me at the end of the show: “We are still here, and if we’re expressing our work in a contemporary way, we’re keeping it alive.”
As consumers of art, we also have a duty to keep it alive by attending those events and educating ourselves so that we can better provide for the community around us.
Suz Pontillo is a multifaceted artist from Miami who now lives in the Seattle area. Find her on social media at @suzpont.
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